Girls basketball: Coffman uses balance, depth to keep winning

Saturday

Dec 29, 2012 at 12:01 AMDec 29, 2012 at 10:20 AM

No girls basketball team in central Ohio has seen as much tape roll as Dublin Coffman the first five weeks of the season. The Shamrocks watch a lot of videotape of games and practices, but it's the sprained ankles, cuts and bruises that have been wrapped in yards of athletic tape that make their 8-1 start something of a medical miracle.

Mark Znidar, The Columbus Dispatch

No girls basketball team in central Ohio has seen as much tape roll as Dublin Coffman the first five weeks of the season.

The Shamrocks watch a lot of videotape of games and practices, but it’s the sprained ankles, cuts and bruises that have been wrapped in yards of athletic tape that make their 8-1 start something of a medical miracle.

Despite playing without senior guard Grace Filler (sprained ankle) and sophomore forward Damonique Patterson (leg injury), Coffman was still able to punch out a 53-45 victory over Hilliard Bradley last night in the Watterson Christmas Classic.

The injury list was even longer at one point. Sophomore guard Kamerine Taylor missed four games because of a sprained ankle and senior point guard Quynh Vo missed time because of illness.

Coach Bryan Patton said the key has been that the players have not felt sorry for themselves.

“The way I phrased it was, you can’t think about what happened yesterday, that we have to move forward,” Patton said. “That’s all they can do is play.“We had to change the way we use our personnel groupings and minutes. The girls have just played the game. Some have taken on bigger roles. Really, it has been a blessing in disguise. We got a lot of players more experience.”

The perseverance shows the maturity of a team that finished 20-3 and won the Ohio Capital Conference Central Division championship last season.

“We all stepped up — we all worked together — through the injuries,” Vo said. “We knew we lost some good players and everyone had to do their part. We’re confident in each other. Coach also tells us we’re everyone’s biggest game (after the 20-win season).”

The Shamrocks jetted to an 18-7 lead by scoring the final 10 points of the first quarter. The big shots were three-pointers by Vo and Taylor.

Bradley (5-4), which lost four senior starters off last year’s team, refused to go away and cut the deficit to two points twice in the final two minutes. A basket by center Ashley Hummel off a loose ball made it 47-45 with 1:23 left.

But Taylor, Tullis and Vo each made two free throws when the Jaguars were forced to foul to close out the game.

Two examples of the Shamrocks’ teamwork occurred when Vo found Olatoye for open layups off the full-court press with 2:26 and 1:51 left in the game.

“It’s our communication,” Olatoye said. “We’ll yell at each other all the time, but in friendly, helpful tones. We know when to pick it up.”

Bradley could be one of the teams to be reckoned with come tournament time. It leads the OCC Cardinal Division with a 4-1 record.

Coach Kathy Lindsey said her team needs more experience.

“I told them I was disappointed because we could have won the game,” Lindsey said. “We keep shooting ourselves in the foot. We had some turnovers when we lost our composure. We gave up 18 points in the first quarter, and we’re a pretty good defensive team. Then we hold them to five in the second. Our girls do play hard. We’re so young. We’re still trying to find chemistry.”

mznidar@dispatch.com

@MarkZnidar

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